The Effect of Community-Managed Palliative Care Program on Quality of Life in the Elderly in Rural Tamil Nadu, India
A. Dongre, K. Rajendran, Suresh Kumar
Sep 1, 2012
Citations
10
Citations
Quality indicators
Journal
Indian Journal of Palliative Care
Full text
Semantic Scholar
Key Takeaway Key Takeaway: The community-managed palliative care program significantly improved perceived physical quality of life and psychological support for elderly persons in rural Tamil Nadu, India.
Abstract
Background: HelpAge India has been facilitating community-managed palliative care program in the villages of Tamil Nadu, India. Objective: To evaluate the effect of perceived quality of life in the elderly in the project villages in rural Tamil Nadu. Materials and Methods: It was a community-based evaluation study. Considering the mean difference of 0.6, design effect-2, precision-5%, power 80%, and 10% non-response, a sample size of 450 elderly persons (more than 60 years) was adequate. Sample was selected by two-stage cluster sampling. Tamil version of “WHO-Quality of Life-brief questionnaire” was used. Trained interviewers made house-to-house visits and obtained information by personally interviewing the subjects. Results: The mean score for perceived physical quality of life in the project area was (10.47 ± 1.80 SD) high than the mean score (10.17 ± 1.82 SD) in the control area (P = 0.013) and the mean score for psychological support (10.13 ± 2.25 SD) in project area was high than the mean score (9.8 ± 2.29 SD) in control area (P = 0.043). There was no effect on domain of social relationship and environment. Conclusions: In the project villages, the perceived physical quality of life and psychological support among elderly persons was significantly better than the control villages.